Flora Renovatur
by Lola Ravenhill
Summary: Sometimes it takes an interesting stranger to help Rose Tyler figure out just what she wants to do with her life. A post Doomsday tale and crossover with Harry Potter.
1. London Through the Veil

For some reason I have a tendency to think in crossovers, and so my first tentative footsteps into this shiny new fandom are crossed over with another very familiar world (please be kind to the newbie!). In the HP world, spoilers up through Order of the Phoenix, or at least for one major event at the end of it (I also have a tendency to think in fixer-uppers, another failing of mine). In Doctor Who, spoilers through Doomsday.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Also, my deepest thanks to the works of Terry Pratchett, without which this story wouldn't have happened. If you come back to see the next few parts, you'll find out why...

Comments and critique appreciated, and thanks for reading!

* * *

London-through-the-Veil

When the veil spit him out (thankfully sparing him the epitaph 'Man who was killed by a curtain') Sirius Black regained consciousness in a park in London, blinking at the sudden sharp shock of sunlight. The sun, however, was quickly blotted out by the people standing over him…people with some rather nasty looking muggle weapons.

With a sigh he just raised his hands over his head and let them hustle him into their shady looking vehicle. In the sky, he saw zeppelins floating along.

* * *

They did the whole range of tests on him, physical and mental, cataloguing his reactions and lack of responses to their questions. It wasn't so much his escaped convict state that was keeping his mouth shut, but rather the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that something very dear to him was missing. He stretched every part of his mind trying to get just the briefest brushes of it, but to no avail.

What had convinced him that he was no longer in the London he knew was the lack of magic. Even in the muggle world magic was everywhere, and a trained wizard, especially one as sensitive as he was—you couldn't be an animagus without having a good grasp of how magic felt on your skin—could detect it easily. But in this London, London-through-the-veil, nothing. He suspected he could still do magic, but it'd be a lot harder than it had ever been in his life. Maybe even harder than it was to do magic in Azkaban. It made Sirius feel even more lost, and that wasn't something he liked to admit at all. So he kept his mouth shut, offering up no information to the good folk at the Torchwood Institute.

They gave him a comfortable room to stay in; it was still a bit cell-like, but it had a comfortable bed and a decent sized window that looked on the outside world. As he lay there the first few nights, he could overhear them talking about him. Apparently, he was a man who didn't exist. No name could be found, no match for his fingerprints or DNA in any of their computer systems.

Beyond the veil, indeed. Whole new world, really.

* * *

About a week after his arrival in London-through-the-veil, he was escorted into a room so cold and sterile it could only be concocted by a muggle mind. Wizards had a tendency to think in clutter, and this room was devoid of anything save for a polished mirror on the wall and a gleaming metal table and chairs in the center of the room. Sirius sat in there, feeling just a bit out of place. At least he had gotten some new clothes out of the deal though. It wasn't like he could just pop down to the local Gladrags or M&S back in Grimmauld Place…

The door to the room opened, and a woman with a professional air walked in. Well, he said woman, but really she was barely more than a girl. Couldn't be much older than Harry. She had the same look in her eyes as Harry did too—the look of someone who had seen far too much at such a young age. The smile on her face was wide and bright, though; something Harry didn't do nearly enough. She sat down at the table across from him, tucked some bleached blonde hair behind an ear, and flipped open a file folder.

"So," she said. "You've got no name, no records anywhere, and when it comes down to it your genetics are a bit unusual as well. Care to elaborate a bit?"

Sirius just shrugged, feeling quite absurd. "Wish I could tell you more, although I'm not sure what you want to hear." He had to resist the urge to laugh, but even so had trouble keeping the smirk off his lips.

The girl leaned back in her chair, still smiling. "I'm glad you're amused at least. Most of the beings who end up in here aren't in as good a mood as you are."

"Beings?" The word slipped past his lips before he could hold it back, and decided to follow through on the thought. "Why beings instead of people?"

She tapped a pen against her teeth, the pink tip of her tongue just poking through. "This is Torchwood. Like some of my co-workers have been known to say: 'If it's alien, it's ours.'" That phrase sent Sirius's eyebrows skyrocketing towards his hairline.

"Aliens? Oh boy." Definitely fallen straight down the rabbit hole, only he suspected that this wasn't Wonderland.

"I'm guessing it's not quite like that where you're from?" she prodded gently. He thought it odd that she was so comfortable with the idea of aliens, that something from another planet could be a part of everyday life.

"I'm from London; it's not every day that you think of aliens in the Ministry of Ma…Finance."

"No, just Downing Street."

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. So, do you have a name? Just to put us on even ground my name's Rose, Rose Tyler." She fiddled with her folder, doodling some twisty design in the border of it.

"If I don't exist, how can I have a name?" 'Really got to stop with the snarky questions, Sirius,' he thought, but times like this holding his tongue wasn't foremost on his mind.

Rose just looked at him, her warm brown eyes boring deep into his. Then, she got up, walked to the keypad by the door and punched in a code. A soft click sounded, and the tiny red light on the side of the video camera perched in high corner went off. Sirius didn't sense anything, just watched as she leaned against the door and crossed her arms over her chest. "See, I think you have a name, and you just don't want to tell me. If you are who I think you are I don't blame you, but I can assure you that I am looking out for your best interests."

Sirius twisted in his chair to face her, one arm draped over the cold metal back. "Then what's my name?" Now this ought to be good…

The pen drifted to her mouth again, gliding the plastic cap against her lower lip. "1993: a man accused of setting off a bomb in broad daylight, middle of the street and killing thirteen people escapes from jail. Bloke had an unusual name. Sirius Black, kind of hard to forget a calling card like that. The news stations report about three years later that Sirius Black had died under mysterious circumstances, and that the danger was gone. Funnily enough, it looked like someone else had committed the crime he had spent all those years locked up for." Rose chewed briefly on the pen cap. "Even with a haircut and a good scrub, it's kind of hard to forget a face that gave you nightmares when you were seven."

His mouth gaped a few times, like a drugged up goldfish desperate for some food. But then one thought rose to mind, cracking the surface and making itself known and important. "It's a fair cop," he said, looking steadily at Rose. "But…if you know who I am, that means that you're not from this London either."

Rose just smiled, this time a far more enigmatic sort of smile. "I'm a lot more well-travelled than people think."

* * *

One thing Sirius had in abundance was time. He had gotten some freedom at Torchwood, with access to the gyms and cafeterias, but even chatting with the workers there still didn't make up for what was missing. So at night he went online, scouring the internet for any traces of the people he knew in the other London.

He discovered that Petunia Evans had been married for over thirty years to Vernon Dursley and residing in Surrey with one grown son, but no sign of her sister Lily. There was an older sister named Daisy Evans, however. James and Harry didn't exist either; the only Harry Potter he had managed to discover was an insurance underwriter in Connecticut. Remus's muggle mother was there, but no sign of her husband or magical children. Hermione Granger had died on Halloween shortly after her eleventh birthday, victim of a drunk driver. The only existence of Albus Dumbledore was a minor character in a series of children's novels. Lots of people with the last name Black to be found in the world, but none who were related to him.

Everything he had known in his previous life didn't exist anymore. It was funny, part of him had always wanted a second chance, wanted to do things over without the stigma of a stay in Azkaban hanging over his head. Now that he'd gotten it, all he wanted to do was go home.

* * *

_ To be continued in part two, Fallen Angels. Thanks for reading!_


	2. Fallen Angels

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter! It is always appreciated. Here's part two, and I hope you enjoy it.

2. Fallen Angels

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Rose Tyler kept visiting him. The first visit had been a professional one, coming down in her suit with a notepad to ask him polite questions about his state and well being once more. There was something he could see in her eyes though. She wanted to know more…or just wanted to reconnect with someone from the old world. He suspected strongly that it was the latter.

That night she'd come back, dressed in jeans and carrying some takeaway Chinese with her. Sirius couldn't help but smile, happy for the company of someone who could understand. "Come on in," he said, relieving her of the food and setting it down on the coffee table. Chopsticks were dug out of the bag they dug into the food. "So why are you back here?" Sirius asked after a few mouthfuls.

Rose sat back against the arm of the couch, chewing thoughtfully. "The pleasure of your company?"

He shook his head. "Try again."

She sighed, this time nibbling on the end of a chopstick. 'Girl's got a bit of an oral fixation,' Sirius thought. "All right. You're one of the only people in this world who came from my world—London, no less. Everyone else that ended up here, well, all two of them, my mum and my ex-boyfriend, they all settled in, found their place. I guess I want to talk to someone who remembers what my home is like. Don't get me wrong, it's great here. S'just sometimes I feel like I'm a bit out of it compared to everyone else."

"I can try, although I did spend the last year cooped up in a house in one of the worst bits of London," he said, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. The look on Rose's face had been dark and stormy, but finally she grinned, just a bit.

"Can't be any worse than where I grew up. Place called the Powell Estates, just me and my mum in a flat with walls so thin you couldn't help but hear every row the neighbours got into."

"You would think so, however let's just say that Grimmauld Place truly lives up to its name."

Days and weeks passed, and so did many more evening meetings between Sirius and Rose. He told her stories about his magical world, from days at Hogwarts dedicated to learning all about wizardry, both the legal and slightly illegal types…

_That night's takeaway was doner kebabs-Sirius had supplied the lager and both were well on their way to getting pissed._

_"Did you know that lyk—lick—werewolfism—"_

_"Lycanthropy."_

_"Yeah, whatever. Did you know that it was originally caused by an alien?"_

_"Pull the other one, Rosy."_

_"S'true! Saw it meself back in 1879. There's even a chance that Queen Victoria got the virus and then spread it to the rest of the royal family. So your werewolfy friend is in quite good company." She toasts the air with her bottle, and Sirius snorts._

_"Puts a whole new spin on 'Werewolves of London', that's for sure."_

_Rose sobers up, fast and sudden. "It was the whole reason bloody Torchwood was started up. If we'd only gone to where we meant to go, never would have dealt with the werewolf, never woulda ticked off the Queen, never woulda made Torchwood. Would still be back there…"_

He told her about leaving school and getting tossed headfirst into a war they weren't prepared for, an eighteen year old kid still wet behind the ears joining a secret society dedicated to fighting the injustices and trying to keep the innocent, both magic and muggle, still alive. He told Rose about the best friends he'd ever had, those brave and bright boys who all changed the world in their own ways, both good and bad. Another night he spoke of the years in jail, twelve long years stuck in a place that was as close to hell on Earth as anything could ever be. He talked of the escape, and Harry, and werewolves, and being stuck in that pit of a house.

Finally, he told her of the fall. He goes to save the life of his godson, and does save it, and gets pushed through a tattered curtain by his crazy cousin.

Rose stayed attentive through the whole thing, making sympathetic noises and asking pertinent questions. More than anything though, she understood, with a depth of empathy rare in anyone, let alone one so young, and once again Sirius wondered just what she'd saw.

On a night when they were both stone cold sober, the only thing in their stomachs cheap, plasticky microwave popcorn, she started to tell him her story. Her tale was all about faraway lands, space travel and intergalactic con men, of changing faces and dark beasts, with a fall at the end that opened up a whole new world to explore for her.

Most of all, she told him about The Doctor. And while she never said the words specifically, Sirius could tell that even though it's been a few years since she's seen him, if there were even a heartbeat's worth of a chance that she could get back to him, she would jump on it. He's the love of her life, after all. That was just his opinion though. Rose wouldn't confirm nor deny anything.

* * *

Eventually, Sirius moved out of Torchwood's building and into a small flat they (or rather Rose) had arranged for him. They set him up with a name and credentials, leaving nothing to say that he hadn't existed on this planet once upon a time. The name didn't feel right on his tongue, awkward and stumbling. When Rose came to see the new place for the first time, he begged her to keep calling him Sirius.

The job they found for him was right nearby, close enough that he could walk every day. Even in London-through-the-Veil, it was a nice change that he could head outside, turn his face up to the sun daily, and breathe in the marginally clean air. He ended up working in a library of all things, a place he never really cared to go back when he was in Hogwarts (Of course, that could have been because of Madam Pince. He hoped he was a far better monitor attitude-wise than she was).

Sirius's immediate boss was the head librarian who spoke few words but definitely knew his stuff. He was a big burly man (but surprisingly loose-limbed and moved fast and fluidly) with a shock of ginger hair that frequently looked like it had been dragged backwards through a hedgerow. He also had an odd passion for bananas. Some of his colleagues informed him on the sly that the man could be bribed with them; it was an excellent way to get a day off.

Sirius suspected that in a past life this man was a monkey. Maybe a gorilla, or something like that.

* * *

To be continued in part three: The Offer 


	3. The Offer

Note: this was written before Utopia aired (before S3 aired at all actually). There are some things in here that S3 has/will blatantly contradict, so for purposes of this story I'm burying my head in the sand. ;)

And to bee, who's been absolutely darling about responding with each part, you totally called it in your last review. g

Thanks for reading, and as always-Enjoy!

* * *

Out of the total blue, Rose showed up at his door one day, a small duffle bag in hand and looking like she had been to hell and back. "What's up?" he asked, waving her inside.

"Can I crash here for a couple of days or so? I just need someplace quiet to stay, away from everyone," she sighed, flopping down onto the couch.

"Sure," he said, noticing her just about to fall asleep. "Come on."

He set her up in his bed, being the gentleman and taking the couch for himself. The telly was hauled in there, and when he came back in with a mug of steaming tea she was flipping through the channels, letting it be the only light in the room. She sipped at the tea gratefully, eyes never leaving his face.

"So what's up, Rosy?" Sirius asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"I died last week," she whispered, the mug blocking her lips and muffling her words.

"What?" She couldn't have said what he thought she said…

"Yup. Was out on assignment with one of the teams, got shot twice. One through the stomach, an' the other was right by my heart. Made it to A&E but something went wrong…" She chuckled ruefully, her lank hair dropping in front of her eyes. "Woke up in the morgue, with a toe-tag and everything. Scared the living crap out of the assistant down there." Rose pulled the neck away from her shirt and glanced down. "'Least everything's healing up nicely," she commented.

"That's impossible," Sirius said, shaking his head with disbelief. He'd seen some strange things, but this took the prize. Although, if travel between universes was possible (and he had first hand proof of that one) who knew what could happen?

"Yeah, it should be. My dad went down to hospital and threatened them 'til they admitted they'd made a mistake, misread the monitors, hadn't paid attention or whatever." She put the tea down on the night table and pulled the blankets tight around her, as if shielding herself from something. "But I know how I felt. I was dead. It wasn't just for something like thirty seconds either. Takes longer than that to get hauled down to the morgue from emergency."

"D'you know why that could have happened? I mean, you've had a lot of weird experiences out there, maybe one of those could have this…not dying effect?"

_"It's like, there was this singing…"_ she whispered, so low he could barely hear her. Rose looked out the window, seeing the soft golden glow that was coming from another flat. "I don't know. There's something there, but I can't quite reach it. What did I do?" she murmured. "Could we maybe talk about this later? I'm exhausted."

"Sure. Sleep well, love."

As Rose slept Sirius sat slouched against the bedroom door, watching the light from the telly and from outside flicker over her form. Even wizards couldn't escape death, so what had happened to Rose to make that possible? Part of him suspected that if her Doctor was here, he'd have the answers. But as it was, all he could do was keep watch and make sure she had as sound a sleep as possible.

* * *

One time when it was slow in the library and Sirius was killing a massive amount of time by browsing random internet articles, he found one that actually applied to him. There was an article from the early 1960s stashed on some conspiracy theory website that spoke of a man called Alfred Coromandel that had been discovered in the same park Sirius had landed in. He was a bit of a mystery, as he had been found covered in strange tattoos and not much else. This website suspected he was an alien from the planet Anessa, currently living out the rest of his days on Earth in a house somewhere in Kent.

It was hard to forget about a name like Coromandel though, and it was a name Sirius was familiar with. He'd heard about him while training to be an Auror, a wretched bastard of a man who had tortured and killed muggles for the sheer pleasure of it back in the 1860s. Brilliant and deranged, he had eluded Aurors for ages until one beauty of a bust that was still being studied over a hundred years later. He had been executed by being pushed through the veil, one of the last people to die that way in the years after Azkaban was opened.

Bastard he might have been, but Sirius figured maybe he could give him some tips on how to survive in a world with minimal magic. He didn't even think to ask him about a way to get back to his world; the man had been here for fifty years without any sign of leaving.

Luckily for Sirius, something far more important would come up and push Alfred Coromandel far out of his mind.

* * *

It was a Friday night tradition for the workers at the library to head out to the nearest pub (appropriately titled 'Bell, Book, and Candle') and proceed to get nicely sloshed. Taxi routes had been worked out in advance, deciding which ones of them got to share going in which directions. Sirius was quite happily tucking into his third pint and throwing a dart against a wall when the Librarian sidled up to him.

"So how have you been settling in these past few weeks?" he asked, taking up a dart himself.

"Well as can be expected, I guess." Sirius let another dart fly, and winced when it embedded itself in a board two down from his. Darts was never his game, even on a good day.

The boss just chuckled and tossed his own, which landed exactly where it was supposed to. "Good, good. Like I always say, if you need anything…"

"I'll come and find you." This really was a good pint. Or maybe he just didn't have the tolerance he used to and was feeling more than a bit sloshed. Ooh, right, it was his turn to throw.

"Look, mate, you're not from around here, are ya?" The words made Sirius jump, this time sending the dart into the wood paneling and bouncing back towards him with a dull thud. "You just seem about two steps to the left of everyone else. So where are you from?" he asked softly.

"A long, long ways away," Sirius sighed, flipping his long hair out of his face and retrieving the stray dart. "And that's all you're going to get out of me." Not many people would understand his story, and part of him preferred to keep it that way. Rose understood, and that was perfectly fine with him.

The Librarian just looked at him, a thoughtful glint in his eyes. Sirius didn't stop to think about it, and weaved back towards the bar for another pint.

* * *

Another day Sirius ran into Mickey Smith on the street, a brief, five minute stop while waiting in line for gourmet coffees (it was Sirius's day for the coffee run-they had yet another schedule for this as well at the library).

"You know, mate, I can't tell you how glad everyone is, especially Jackie and Pete, that Rose has taken to you so well," Mickey says, dumping far too much sugar than would be healthy into his coffee. "She's been a real wet blanket for ages."

"I wouldn't go that far," Sirius mused. Rose had never come across as a piece of soggy flannel to him.

"Yeah, but you didn't used to know how she was before…well, a while ago anyways. You're helping her move on with her life, you know."

"I think Rose moved on because she wanted to; I doubt there's anything I did to help that." Besides, Mickey didn't really have a clue. Rose had moved on, yes, and was enjoying her life here to the fullest she could, but there was a small part of the girl that was clearly still carrying a torch for a certain alien. He had heard plenty of rumours while at Torchwood, many a man had tried to ask Rose Tyler for a date, but none had succeeded and they all scratched their heads in puzzlement and came up with plenty of outlandish reasons for her actions. All he could do was be her friend and help her pick up the pieces when small moods struck her in the middle of the night when no one else was looking.

When Sirius got back to the library the coffees were disbursed, with the last cup going to the head librarian himself. He knocked on the open door frame, waving the cup in the air. The Librarian looked up from his phone call and waved him inside. "Shut the door behind you, will ya? No, not you…"

He closed the door, put down the coffee, and waited for the phone call to finish. Once it was done, the Librarian just looked at Sirius for a few long moments until he started to fidget uncomfortably. "What is it?"

"How badly do you want to go home?"

"Excuse me?" He didn't just hear what he thought he said, did he?

The Librarian arched a ginger eyebrow. "I know you're from somewhere very far from here. How much do you want to get back there?"

"Uhhhhh." That was the sound of Sirius Black's brain going into shutdown/overload mode.

"Don't answer me now. Just think on it. If you do want to go back, come find me, because I can help you." Sirius just nodded and hustled out of the office which was feeling a bit stifling at the moment.

* * *

One more part to go: _Flora's Come Back To Life. _Thanks again for reading! 


	4. Flora's Come Back to Life

Well, this is it, the last part of Flora Renovatur, I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you to everyone who's stuck with this so far, and for all of your lovely comments about it.

* * *

The first time Rose came across something at work that had the barest, faintest whiff of magic about it, she brought Sirius in as a consultant. He doubted that there was anything magical, as he still hadn't found any traces at all in the months that he had been in this other London. However, it did mean a free trip to Bristol, and he certainly didn't mind getting out of London for a few days.

Sure enough, what they had thought was magic was merely alien, not at all an unusual occurrence for Torchwood. Rose did get to meet Padfoot though, a bit of magic that no alien technology could replicate. In a fit of whimsy, Sirius and Rose decided to stay in Bristol a few days longer, a bit of a vacation. Both ignored the 'knowing' looks from her co-workers, knowing that they really had no clue about their friendship. Sirius looked on Rose as a little sister nearly, and he suspected that Rose's heart was somewhere off in the universe, definitely not down on Earth with the rest of the humans.

That night they found a pub that had live music and parked it at a table there. "Wait, wait, wait, we have to have a toast," Rose grinned, stretching her jean-covered legs in front of her and raising her martini glass high, filled with some pink concoction.

"All right." Sirius raised his own pint glass and chewed on his lower lip. "Here's to the little sister I never had and always wanted, Rose Tyler. Without her, Merlin only knows where I'd be right now."

"Cheers to that!" Glasses clinked and they sipped, savoring the first delicious mouthful. "All right, my turn," Rose said, sitting back to think. Sirius watched as the smile slowly slipped off her face, the look becoming more thoughtful and almost a little bit sad, and he wondered just what was going through her head. Finally she sighed deeply, a wistful smile replacing the former one, and raised her glass again. "Here's to…here's to having a fantastic life."

"To a fantastic life." The sound of strings tuning floated over the chattering crowd, and Sirius gently nudged her foot. "Hey now, the music's starting. Time to smile Rosy."

"You just can't let a girl have a good downer, can ya?" She winked quickly at him, the mood passing.

"Hell no!"

* * *

Sirius fumbled with the keys to Rose's hotel room as Rose hung off of his arm and giggled drunkenly in the hallway. The girl's tolerance was shit, that was for sure. And if she kept singing like that she was going to wake the neighbors.

"_'Find my true love there…'_"

"Rose, you might want to keep it down a bit," he hissed at her. Damn it, why wasn't this key going in? He usually wasn't this clumsy.

"'_…long of limb with time to spare.'_ Whoops!" Rose stumbled (strangely enough, while she was standing still…the miracle of Cosmopolitans, no doubt) and grabbed onto Sirius tighter, almost taking him to the ground also.

"Shit! Don't do that!" Finally, the lock clicked and the door swung open, neatly propelling the two into the room. Rose flew straight onto the bed, leaping onto it like a five year old while Sirius just slid down the door, feeling like he'd gotten hit with a jelly-legs curse. He pointed towards the still giggling woman. "All right you. Pajamas and bed immediately."

Rose bounced up and down and stuck her tongue at him. She did, however, crawl off the bed and grabbed her pajamas. She made a stop by the window though, pulling the curtains back to stare up at the stars.

"What's up, Rosy girl?"

She sighed and leaned her forehead against the glass. "He once told me to have a fantastic life." There was no question who the 'he' she was referring to was. "And you know, I do have a fantastic life right now-got great friends, great family, great job. An' I'm surviving pretty well too…but it's not the life I want. Is that bad of me?"

He shook his head, even though he knew there was no chance of her seeing it. "Nope. S'human, is what it is. We always want what we can't have, but we have to make the best of what we've got."

Rose sighed again, a bit melodramatically. Her fingernails tapped against the cold glass, leaving little fogged up marks in their wake. "I know. M'trying to make the best of it. I just can't help but feel that there's more out there for me in this impossible universe. And goddamnit, Sirius, I want more." She gripped the pajamas tighter in her hand and tottered off to the en suite, slamming the door behind her with finality.

Instead of going back to his own room, Sirius transformed into Padfoot and curled up at the foot of the bed. The buzz was gone now, leaving just a bit of a depression behind. He stayed there all night, keeping watch over Rose.

* * *

_'I dreamt about him last night. My Doctor. He's got a new companion now, in my dream. Her name's Martha. She seems like she's really good for him, and I'm so glad he's got someone there with him. He's lonely enough as it is. I saw another old friend of ours there, but I could have sworn he was long dead. I'm learning though that being dead isn't always a permanent state. I couldn't tell if the Doctor was happy though. Always could before, but I couldn't here. Kinda scares me.'_

* * *

  
"All right. How do I get back?"

The librarian looked up at Sirius who was currently leaning over him with a slightly manic look in his eyes. "What spurred this on? It definitely seems a bit out of the blue for you."

"It's not so much for me, but for my sister." He figured the little lie couldn't hurt in this case. If this cockamamie plan of his actually worked, Rose would be back where she wanted to, and he'd get to go back as well. He wasn't a fugitive in this world, hell he didn't even legitimately exist here, but magic was such a strong part of him he couldn't give it up without a fight.

"You? A sister?" There was a healthy amount of skepticism there that time.

"As close to a sister as I'll ever have. And while I wouldn't mind going home-she _needs_ to."

For long minutes, the librarian just looked at him. He had a tendency to do that, looking and staring as if he were trying to work through to the inner layers of brain and consciousness. Finally… "All right. I've got to work on a special project after hours today. You just volunteered to be my assistant."

Sirius nodded. "I'll see you then."

* * *

"I'm working on a way to get us home, back to our universe."

They were in a park, watching the zeppelins float by. Rose only had a few minutes for a lunch break, but she was craving some fresh air, and who was Sirius to object to that?

"You are joking?" She caught the look on his face. "You're not joking."

He shook his head, an amused grin spreading. "Nope."

"But how? The Doctor said it was impossible. It could destroy both universes in the process." She chucked her sandwich in the nearby bin; it tasted rather like sand now instead of the bacon it should have.

"We're not going to take the same route the Doctor did. It'll be a bit more roundabout, the way we're gonna go, but it'll get us there." Sirius licked his lips carefully, leaning forward to brace his hands on his knees. "There's also a good chance we're going to have to travel separately."

Rose shook her head rapidly. "No, I need you there. I don't know if I can do…what-whatever this is on my own. It's a huge leap." Her voice dropped to a whisper. _"The urge to fall…"_

Sirius just leaned over and hugged her close. "Yes you can. You're a hell of a lot stronger than you think you are. You've done a brilliant job of surviving in this strange world, and if you wanted to I'm sure you could survive and thrive here 'til your dying day. But you're destined for something different, you are. If you have to do it alone, then so be it. You will make it, I promise. And I'll be the first one to catch you on the other side."

"Well, unless I run into the Doctor first…"

"If you see him first then I will be happy to hide in the closet with a few sound blocking wards up until the joyous reunion is over. Ow!" She smacked him in the shoulder, but Sirius couldn't help but hear the giggle.

* * *

One day not long after that, Sirius Black disappeared from the world beyond the veil. To the average eye from Torchwood nothing was missing from his flat. Rose saw that his wand was gone, along with a few pictures and books he'd accumulated. On the bare coffee table was a letter addressed to Rose Tyler. Right beneath that was a delicate needle case made of ivory with lacy swirls carved into the top of it—one last bit of transfiguration before he left.

Rose never told anyone what was in the letter. When she disappeared herself nine weeks later, the letter and needle case went with her.

* * *

_Dear Rose,_

_In a few minutes I'm about to take my first real steps into the great beyond. Hopefully when I make it through I'll pop out in a nice lounge in London with a few pretty young things to take care of my every whim, but I'll be happy if I end up on Earth near enough to the time when I left. Of course, I'll be keeping an eye out for you too._

_Now for the important bits. What you need to do in order to get out of this universe is go talk to the head librarian where I used to work. Big ginger chap, you can't miss him. He knows you're coming; how could I not tell him about my dear little sister? In any case, the man knows far more than he appears to, and he'll guide you on the first steps back. It's a bit of a secret, which is why I'm not giving you the directions right here. Store them in your head. I guarantee you won't be able to forget them._

_In case you're second guessing yourself, let me remind you, Rosy, that from everything you told me you were never one to take the safe route. Promise you time travel and grand adventures and you'll be off in a heartbeat. You're not the type to settle, but you go after what you want. It's not going to be easy, but you're a stubborn girl. I'm betting you'll do fine._

_Oh, I finally decided on a proper alias. Can't go by Sirius Black back there after. Technically I'm still a fugitive (albeit a very dead one—well, mostly dead. Actually, not really dead at all, but you know what I mean) so I can't use that name. I rather fancy the moniker Samuel Bristol-it'll always remind me of our little trip there. Maybe I'll use the middle name Oliver, or Oscar. No matter what, I can't escape the fact that I am an S.O.B. _

_Okay, I'll stop with the bad jokes. At least I didn't toss in a Sirius/Serious one for good measure, count your blessings._

_Remember, like that song said: 'You go there alone, to find someone for to call them your own.'_

_And also remember, I'll be on the other side waiting to catch you, and to help you find your Doctor too._

_Love you dearly, Rosy._

_-Sirius_

* * *

_Letter to Samuel Bristol_

_Trainee, Torchwood 3, Cardiff Branch_

_2 December 1997_

_Dear Sirius,_

_Of all the places in all the universes, and you have to end up in Cardiff?! Remember what I told you about that place? Watch out for glowing blue ghosts or Slitheen. Actually, the Slitheen thing should be in about nine years from the time that you're in now, so be careful not to cause a paradox. This time travel talk always gives me a bit of a headache, but I'm getting better at it._

_You were right about this way of traveling. It's so, so different from traveling by TARDIS. Don't need a ship at all really, just hold on tight and start walking. S'amazing, truly. Even though...I may have slightly mis-navigated on my first trip. I currently am in the year five-billion and twenty-five in New New York. I think the Doctor rubbed off on me more than I thought. I was aiming for someplace familiar, that I'd been to before. Just didn't plan on going this far off course! _

_Which brings me to my next point. You may not like it, but it's something that I have to do for myself. I don't know when I'm going to get back to Earth. I know I'd planned to head straight there, but I have discovered that I rather like traveling on my own. When I'm like this, in a strange universe far, far in the future, I don't have to be Rose Tyler, Jackie and Pete Tyler's (sort of) daughter, or Rose Tyler, ex-girlfriend of Mickey Smith, or Rose Tyler, ex-companion of the Doctor waiting for him to maybe return for me one day, if he hasn't forgotten me by now (don't know how long it's been for him-time runs funny between these two universes. For all I know he could have run through his regenerations and be dead and buried on some distant planet). Out here, wandering about, I can be just Rose, a Rose that is who I want to be, not what others are expecting me to be. I suspect that I've got a lot more time than the average person, and I've also got my sort of 'Get off of Earth free' card, so I'm going to use it as much and as best as I can._

_We should still be able to send letters through the space. Don't know how they know where to go, but they always make it. The magic of words, huh? You can be my anchor though...no, that's not right. You'll be my guiding star, giving me a place to look when I wander too far off track._

_This is the fantastic life I've always wanted. I've seen far too much now to stay settled on Earth eating chips and getting married to Mickey. Even though I don't often say it, my heart was given to someone else a long time ago, and I'm not in the mood to compromise and settle. Part of me's like, it's all or nothing, but if I can't have him, it's not the end of my life. Sorry, bit of a tangent there...anyway. As a friend of mine once said it won't be safe, and it's not gonna be easy, but it'll be the trip of a lifetime. And if I run into the Doctor along the way, well, I'll figure it out when it happens. I'm not sure if I should slap him or snog him. I don't want to be like my mother though._

_God, I never used to ramble like this! We all know whose fault that is. To save you from anymore babble I'll end the letter here. I do expect to hear back from you soon! It'll be nice to have something familiar aside from a TARDIS key with me as I wander amidst the stars._

_All my love,_

_Rose_

_P.S.- How the hell did you end up working for Torchwood Cardiff?! Now this one I've got to hear..._

* * *

Okay, I admit, the end is a bit cracky there but I couldn't resist. I'm not sure where the story's going to go from here, but I do know I've got all of L-Space at my disposal to give Rose adventures... ;)

Any and all comments are appreciated, and thanks for reading!_  
_


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